Léon Gontran Damas was born in Cayenne, French Guiana in 1912. He is the author of six collections of poetry, including Pigments (1937) and Névralgies (Neuralgias) (1966), and one collection of short stories, Veillées noires (Black Wakes) (1943). He also published three books of essays, including the ethnological study, Retour de Guyane (Return from Guyane) (1938). He was a cofounder of the Négritude literary movement in the 1930s, which sought a common black identity and a rejection of French colonial racism. Damas was awarded the Caribbean Literary Prize in 1970, among other honors. He served briefly in the French army during the Second World War and was later elected as representative of Guiana to the French parliament. He traveled widely and lectured throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. He later moved to Washington DC, where he taught briefly at Georgetown University. In 1970 he was appointed Distinguished Visiting Professor at Howard University, where he became acting director of the African Studies Program. He taught there until his death in 1978.